Francis
redirect Francis Wilkerson Francis, played by Christopher Masterson, is the oldest of the brothers and the biggest troublemaker. Francis is a regular character on the show for the first five seasons, although he has lived outside the house from the series' beginning. His mother, Lois, was in labor with Francis in the middle of her wedding to Hal. Francis was a troublemaker from a young age; he broke curfew, drank, smoked and slept around. Lois exiled him to a military academy after he was caught in bed with his girlfriend, and crashed the neighbor's car (which proceeded to burn up), and got 4 nose rings (Lois told him he would go to military academy if he got one nose piercing). From afar, Francis provides fodder for many subplots. Francis is shown (in frequent flashbacks) dating girls of which his parents did not approve, although he claims to be in love. He has been shown to be obsessive and going out of his way to show Lois she has no control over him, something which enrages the controlling woman immensley as she believes she has total control over every facet of her familys lives. (such as getting his nose pierced multiple times just in order to spite his mother who forbade him to do so). Francis blames his mother for most of his problems. During the first two seasons, at the military academy, rebellious Francis finds a formidable adversary in Commandant Edwin Spangler, whose hook-for-a-hand proved a valuable comic device as Francis sows insurrection in the student ranks. After the second season, at only 17 years old, he legally emancipates himself with the help of forged signatures and an unscrupulous Alabama lawyer. He then leaves the academy, accidentally cutting off Spangler's remaining hand in the process, and heads to Alaska to find work as a logger. While in Alaska, he marries a local woman, Piama, whom he had dated for two weeks. Lois reacts hysterically and continues to be somewhat hostile toward Piama for some time. Piama, like Lois, is hot-tempered and does not shrink when Lois goes after her. By season 4 Francis and Piama have left Alaska and Francis finds work as a farmhand at a New Mexico dude ranch owned by a German couple. Here, Francis becomes more of a responsible adult: he even begins to discipline his younger brothers, who always regarded him as a rule-breaking role model. A little over two years after he begins working at the ranch, however, he is fired because the ATM he used to deposit the ranch's funds was not actually an ATM. For the remainder of seasons six and seven, Francis makes only occasional appearances, yet he is still credited in each episode. Later, we find that he has regressed and reverted to his old ways, living in a cheap apartment without getting a job. Here, he briefly takes a job as the agent for his friend's band and attempts to start his own business. In the final episode, Francis and his mother fight over the fact that he remains unemployed. Later, his father discovers that Francis has been working at a large corporation called Amerisys Industries for two months. He explains that he enjoys his job of sitting in a tiny cubicle entering data into computers all day immensely, but he kept the job a secret from his family because he equally enjoys frustrating his mother by telling her that he is unemployed. Francis' final scene shows him taunting his mother over the phone with his non-existent unemployment by yelling "I'm a FREE SPIRIT!" before he picks up his briefcase, makes plans to come home right after work for dinner with Piama, kisses her, and happily heads to the office. Francis' newfound happiness in mundane work, and his relationship with Piama, is meant to mimic his father, Hal, and his lifestyle.